Public figures are increasingly resorting to unique Internet domains in an effort to relate to the masses. First, it was the pope — with a snazzy Web site that tracks his every move — and now it’s the presidential candidates.
First off, congratulations on attending a fine university. I hope your MSU experience will become as positive an experience in your life as it has been in mine. Now, let me give you a take on the Cedar Fest debacle from someone who graduated a while ago and lives far away from your immediate community.
There is plenty of documented information about how animals suffer in circuses and why experiments on animals are not only cruel but dangerous, as results from one species can’t be accurately transferred to another (see Circuses.com and StopAnimalTests.com for cited fact sheets).
Every time I hear a sentence that starts with “Kids these days ? “ a negative assumption about Generation Y is sure to follow. Some parents, professors and peers think society has taken a dive into immorality rather than into progress within the past 20 years.
Having just finished up negotiations here in Ann Arbor, I have watched with interest the escalating tensions in the Graduate Employees Union negotiations at MSU. I also find the indifference and contempt with which MSU’s administration is treating the university’s teaching assistants appalling.
Guess what today is. Apart from the obvious “Tuesday,” many people might not know what falls on April 22. After all, unlike major and secondary holidays that receive a lot of fanfare when individuals might enjoy a day off, Earth Day doesn’t do much. Not a lot of guidance from Hallmark this time.
Some people love conspiracy theories, no matter how outlandish. State News readers have been subjected to such people claiming that animals are abused in “secretive” research at MSU, but the claims evaporate when the facts surface.
The big news out of Lansing last week was that a bipartisan, comprehensive and long-term energy plan was passed by the Michigan House of Representatives. Those are some adjectives that we don’t see coming out of Lansing too often. Should we, as citizens, merely accept this as a good policy on the basis of its boldness and bipartisan support?
Money makes the world go round, and in the case of MSU students, it keeps the campus looking up-to-date. The MSU Board of Trustees recently voted to raise room and board rates by 5.25 percent effective by the next academic year. Incoming and returning students can expect to see a price increase of $350, which means it will cost about $7,026 each year for a double room and an unlimited meal plan.
Costco Wholesale Corp. and the Dalai Lama aren’t often mentioned in the same sentence. But his holiness and several business leaders, including Costco’s co-founder Jeffrey Brotman, were together Monday in Seattle for a business-inspired talk. Preaching the same peace and karma that he’s known for, the Dalai Lama offered business advice to eager ears.
Given the events of the past two weeks, it’s time we take a break from the infringements on the supposed “right to party” and focus instead on a disturbing trend affecting a more fundamental right: voting.
Michigan, once regarded as one of the most industrially influential states in the union, has been reduced to its current drab condition. It makes me sad as a citizen and fourth-generation Michigan family member to see the economic downturn that has resulted from years of neglect from the state government, as well as the unions. The economic outlook is bleak at best for Michigan. It has been in a recession for years, while the rest of the country catches up. It maddens me to see the disregard, incompetence and arrogance that is exuded by our “leaders.”
Students Promoting Animal Rights was very happy to see The State News editorial Treatment of animals shouldn’t be secretive (SN 4/16), encouraging transparency with animal treatment. Unfortunately, the editorial board made numerous factual errors.
Last Friday, dozens of faculty, administrators and community members joined more than 500 undergraduate students at the Union for the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum — one of this campus’s most exciting and significant annual events.
Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech. After all was said and done, 33 people lost their lives in what ended up being the deadliest school shooting in American history.
This is so high school. Bomb threats and other warnings were commonplace when we were in high school, especially after the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999. Oftentimes it wasn’t more than a false alarm used to get out of class on a nice day or to skip a test.
This letter is in response to Megan Joy’s letter Smoke-free restaurants, bars a logical step for Mich. (SN 4/16). The issue of forcing all restaurants and bars to become smoke-free is not an issue of her personal preference or of statewide economic concerns, as she would have the reader believe. It is simply an issue of private property, government intrusion and capitalism.
The events of this week especially should make people question what “humane” treatment of animals really means. Students Promoting Animal Rights, or SPAR, took the opportunity this weekend to protest the Royal Hanneford Circus at Breslin Center. Members of the student group claim the circus employs cruel practices and treatment of its animals, despite the circus’s denials.
I support House Bill 4163, legislation that could make all workplaces smoke-free, including bars and restaurants. As a college student, I like to go to local bars and restaurants to enjoy myself. I do not appreciate the overbearing, indiscreet stink of cigarette smoke on dry-clean-only clothing that cannot be dispelled by a douse of perfume. Nor do I appreciate having to inhale clouds of secondhand smoke.
I picked up The State News today with one hope in my mind: Please, let there not be a cover story about Cedar Fest plastered with pictures of police dolled up in riot gear, or a crowd fleeing from tear gas.